CANCELLED due to Coronavirus - Hamlet: Smashing Opera by Brett Dean

In 2017, Australian composer Brett Dean managed to do what Giuseppe Verdi failed to do: write an opera to the famous play Hamlet. Markus Stenz, former chief conductor of the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, is at home with repertoire like this like no other. He will conduct the Dutch premiere.

A convincing Hamlet opera
Hamlet is Shakespeare's political-psychological drama about the failure of a young generation that runs up against the machinations of an older one. Crucial questions of life are dealt with extensively. You would think that this is not exactly the right setting for a music drama. Yet Dean, who follows Shakespeare's play meticulously, manages to give the complex matter something extra with his music. He does so with a diverse and atmospheric musical idiom. Frightening or bloody scenes are captured in alienating microtonal sound waves, while love and humour are not shunned. The comic-bitter highlight is the play within the play, in which the actors make fun of the lurid incidents at the court of Denmark.

Let us convince you too!
Dean is a virtuoso composer. With this piece, he achieved a double victory at the world premiere at the Glyndebourne Festival: he wrote modern music for a reserved audience and chose a subject that every Briton can dream of. At the end, the audience in their evening gowns and dinner jackets almost stood on their chairs for an overwhelming applause!